Norway women's national beach handball team explained

Norway
Badge:Flag of Norway.svg
Association:Norwegian Handball Federation
Coach:Eskil Berg Andreassen
Gender:f
H Body:D93735
H Shorts:333F73
A Body:FFFFFF
A Shorts:333F73
3 Body:333F73
3 Shorts:333F73
World Games Apps:2
World Games First:2013
World Games Best:3rd (2013
World Cup Apps:8
World Cup First:2008
World Cup Best:1st (2010)

The Norway women's national beach handball team is the national team of Norway. It is governed by the Norwegian Handball Federation and it represents Norway in international beach handball competitions.

Results

Norway was the bronze medal team at the 2007 European Beach Handball Championship, where Linn Jørum Sulland finished as top scorer and Ingrid Ødegård was named Best Goalkeeper.[1]

In 2009 they played in the final of the European tournament, but lost to Italy after an even shootout and a golden goal in front of a home audience in Larvik.[2] Line player Ane Brustuen was awarded Best Player of the women's tournament.[3]

They received their first gold medal in 2010, at the 2010 World Championship in Antalya, Turkey. Ane Brustuen was named MVP of the tournament.[4]

They made bronze at the 2012, 2014 and 2016 world championships.

World Championships

YearPosition
20086th place
20101st place
20123rd place
20143rd place
20163rd place
20182nd place
202211th place
202411th place
Total8/10

World Games

YearPosition
20133rd place
20174th place
20222nd place
Total3/6

Controversy

In 2021, the team was fined €1500 for being improperly dressed after the women wore bike shorts instead of bikini bottoms at a European championship match in Bulgaria.[5] Critics derided the fine and the underlying rule. Norway's minister for culture and sport Abid Raja described the fine as being "completely ridiculous". Former tennis champion Billie Jean King supported the team tweeting "The sexualisation of women athletes must stop".[6] [7] Although the Norwegian Handball Federation announced they would pay the fines, pop singer Pink offered to pay for them.[8] Later, in November 2021, the International Handball Federation changed their dress rules to allow female players to wear some kinds of shorts, specifying "Female athletes must wear short tight pants with a close fit".[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bronse i Beach-EM!. Andresen. Svein. NHF. Norwegian. 15 July 2007. 6 July 2009.
  2. Web site: Italy (W) European Beach-champions!. Andresen. Svein. NHF. 28 June 2009. 6 July 2009.
  3. Web site: - The best of them all. Andresen. Svein. NHF. 29 June 2009. 6 July 2009.
  4. Web site: Feiret VM-gullet. Birkeland. Kirsten. NHF. Norwegian. 28 June 2010. 28 June 2010.
  5. News: Norway's beach handball team fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms . . 2021-07-21.
  6. News: Pink offers to pay bikini bottoms fine for Norway women's handball team . BBC News . 26 July 2021 .
  7. Web site: Norwegian women's beach handball team fined for not wearing bikini bottoms. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220621/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/norway-womens-beach-handball-bikini-shorts-b1887065.html . 2022-06-21 . subscription . live. Independent.co.uk. 22 July 2021.
  8. News: Beach handball: 'It's shocking to have to pay to not play in our pants' . Daniel Rosney . Manish Pandey . 2021-07-27 . BBC News.
  9. Web site: Beach handball relents on rule women must wear bikinis. RTÉ.ie. 2 November 2021.